August 31 through September 6, 2009

“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of”
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Day 1, James 4:2; Many years ago, I heard a sales trainer use the following illustration to stress the importance of not being afraid to ask for the order after a presentation. “If I saw a pretty girl that I didn’t know walking down the street and asked for a kiss, there are really only two things that can happen—either I get a kiss or I don’t get a kiss! If I get a kiss, then I’ve achieved my objective. If I don’t get the kiss, I have broken even because I didn’t have a kiss to begin with, I didn’t lose anything!” Then he added, “Never be afraid to ask, the worst you can do is break even!” I recently used this illustration with a man who was having problems in his career. A normally religious man who never hesitated to pray for the needs of others, he confided that he just couldn’t bring himself to ask God to help him. For some reason he felt it was all right to ask God to help others in need of guidance, but it wasn’t proper to ask God to come to his aid. What’s your biggest worry? Your greatest concern? Go ahead and ask God, you’ll do better than break even every time! You do not have, because you do not ask.

Day 2, James 4:3; This passage states one of the great principle we must learn to have success in prayer. We have probably all had the experience of asking God for something and seemingly had nothing happen. When we are confronted with a problem our first impulse is usually self-preservation, the avoidance of pain (emotional or physical). Logically, our first attempts to pray about the problem tend to focus on having God wave his magic wand to cause the situation to disappear. I don’t think God holds such prayers against us, in fact the book of Psalms if full of such prayers. But to be successful in our prayer life, we need to be willing to move beyond this type purely self interested prayer by seeking insight into what we should pray for. When we begin praying for guidance for our prayers our motives become purer as we begin to see the direction God wants to lead us—then our prayers develop the type of suction that is needed to move the right mountain at the right time. Our focus shifts from our comfort to our capacity to become one with God’s plan and direction for our lives. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly

Day 3, Luke 11:3; In what has become known as The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray “Give us each day our daily bread”. Granted, in certain extraordinary circumstances God might answer this prayer by literally supplying us with bread, but in most cases we have to use our God given abilities to gather the ingredients and bake the bread. I think there is an even broader application of these words of Jesus. They are really a plea for God to make the things available to us that are needed order for us to use our God given skills to do what needs to be done to support ourselves. Several years ago, I knew a successful sales person who had not always been successful. He told me that his success came when he started beginning each day by asking God to open his eyes to the prospects around him. He stated that he was amazed at how many opportunities he had overlooked in the past. No, he didn’t ask God to make these people buy his products (many didn’t), he simply asked for guidance to the opportunity so he could use his God given abilities to “earn his daily bread.” Give us each day our daily bread.

Day 4, Luke 18:1; We might as well admit it, the daily grind of living can wear us down. Add into a typical day an unanticipated problem and a couple of difficult people and we can find ourselves discouraged, disillusioned and ready to throw in the proverbial towel. Yes, there will be times when circumstances, our own mistakes and events beyond our control come together to dampen our enthusiasm for life, our career, family and even our faith. But Jesus gives us a reliable antidote to head off feelings of futility—Pray your way through it! Moreover, experience has taught me that we are less susceptible to disappointments turning into extended periods of disillusionment when we make a practice of regular and systematic prayer about our affairs. (Jesus told them a parable about) their need to pray always and not lose heart.

Day 5, Matthew 5:44 (KJV); Have you ever been wronged by someone and tried to pray for them? It can be difficult, because praying for them doesn’t mean asking God to show them how right you were and wrong they have been, praying for them means asking God to bless them! We naturally rebel against such an idea (after what she did to sidetrack my promotion, how can I ask God to bless her!) but that is exactly what Jesus is telling us to do. A true testimony to this was given by a businessman whose competitor was unscrupulous. Over time, his feelings of annoyance turned to animosity and then to hate. Knowing this wasn’t right, he asked his minister what he should do. The minister gave him this verse as a prescription. The man said that every night during the first week, his prayer was “Lord, Rev. So and So said to pray that you’d bless this miserable crook, so I’m asking you to. But I don’t really mean it.” The second week, it changed to “Lord, Rev. So and So said I had to pray that you’d bless this guy, so I am.” The third week, he began to experience a change of attitude and began praying more specifically for the man’s situation. A few months later he introduced the man to his minister as “My best friend and new partner.” Pray for those who desspitefully use you

Day 6, Matthew 6:5,6; I’ll never forget being in a busy restaurant one day and having my meal interrupted by a person who stood up and loudly asked for quiet so he and his companions could ask the blessing over the meals being served (it really happened!). Then there was the time one of my lunch companions asked to say grace before we ate, which was fine—until he began praying so loudly that everyone in the place started staring at us. Another true story, a children’s church worker was discussing prayer with some preschoolers and she inquired about family prayer habits. One little girl innocently replied “My daddy only prays when he’s on stage.” She was the daughter of a minister! I have nothing against public prayers, but if we would have a successful prayer life that transforms not only our lives but the situations of life, we need to consistently go into the closets of our minds and “pray without ceasing”. Then God will reward us with guidance, insight and intervention. Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…Whenever you pray; go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in heaven…(He) will reward you.

Day 7, Matthew 21:22 (KJV), The secret to seeing miracles happen around us is contained in this verse! Just as our lives aren’t simply lived in the church, our prayers are not to be limited to “spiritual” matters, the text tells us “all things”—we should not hesitate to bring every situation in every area of our lives to our Heavenly Father. When we seriously pray for something God begins to show how we should pray about a matter, when we reach this point, we are then able to “ask in prayer, believing”. We often confuse believing God for something with building our expectations up through affirmations or psyching ourselves up, but in the original language this word believing comes closer to meaning “entrusting” than “expecting”. In other words, when we sincerely pray about a situation and fully entrust it to his wisdom, timing and power, we “shall receive.” Prayer is the mightiest force in the world once we learn the principles of prayer and consistently practice them. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
God Bless You in everyway, everyday, all the way!
Robert Hidde